DUXBURY — The select board authorized an inspection of the ailing Powder Point Bridge to assess repair options using $48,000 in donations. Officials said the project would deliver a report on the bridge’s condition and an estimate for the cost of repairs.
Some residents have advocated for repairing the historic wooden bridge, built in 1986 after a fire destroyed the original structure from 1891. But the state Department of Transportation told the town that it would not use wood to repair or reconstruct the bridge, Town Manager René Read said.
The town plans to use $48,000 in donations from residents and $10,000 of its fiscal year 2026 budget to fund the inspection, which Read said would produce “a detailed repair and/or restoration cost estimate, an expected life estimate, and an annual maintenance repair cost for over 70 years.”
The town will contract Wood Research and Development’s Dan Tingley, an expert in wood engineering, to conduct the inspection. Alicia Babcock, a member of the Seawall Committee, said that Tingley could present his findings to the select board in June.
“In addition to the information that he would present about the bridge itself, we would also have a general idea of what a plan would look like to repair it and what those associated costs would look like,” Babcock said. “We will get as much data in terms of the cost as we can.”
Select Board Chair Amy McNab said that the non-destructive testing will not necessitate closures of the bridge, which connects the town to a private beach along Gurnet Road.
Meanwhile, Finance Director Mary MacKinnon said that the state and federal governments have offered to fund the construction of a more modern bridge for over $170 million—an option that does not preserve the bridge’s historic feel but may be more fiscally viable for the town.
“We are facing very large scale, very expensive capital projects with our existing infrastructure, and the fact that we have the state and the federal government willing to provide essentially a free bridge to a private beach is something that we cannot take lightly,” she said.
An October 2025 petition by Save Powder Point Bridge, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to prevent the state from tearing down the bridge netted over 6,000 signatures. The organizers later came to the conclusion that “there is no responsible way to repair the bridge” and are now advocating for the town to build a "historically faithful replica” in its place.
The town will spend $10,000 to fund another engineer to assist in the inspection, providing a “peer review” of Tingley’s work, Select Board Vice Chair Fernando Guitart said. But the select board did not decide where that $10,000 should come from before approving the inspection. Finance Director Mary MacKinnon identified a few funding options but said the most feasible was drawing from the “matching grant funds” account.
After the inspection, it is up to the select board to decide if it should construct a modern bridge using state and federal funds, rebuild the bridge out of wood with local funds, or invest more money into repairing the current bridge.
The bridge closed for repairs in December 2025 and reopened April 3. The town also spent $451,000 to repair the bridge in early 2025, according to the Patriot Ledger.
The Department of Transportation inspects the Powder Point Bridge twice a year and stated on its website that it “exhibits poor structural integrity and advanced deterioration” and is “a long-term safety concern.” Sheila Sgarzi, director of the Department of Public Works, said that it conducted an inspection in mid-April.
“This is the biggest thing on our plate for the next year or so,” Select Board Member Michael McGee said.
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